12
comments
:

CheshireKitty
said...

I went to the show. Unfortunately, it was not a giant Jumbotron TV set - it was a front projection TV throwing an image on a large fabric screen undulating in breeze, the screen was always in motion distorting the image, and the image also somewhat washed out - lacked brilliance. Also, the computer occasionally would lose the signal resulting in freeze-ups of the transmission, which was also somewhat disappointing.

Before and after the broadcast, they had a "tummler" style DJ conducting a karaoke contest, which was a nice gesture for the kids who were I think the only participants. Otherwise people were mostly standing around waiting for the broadcast of the fireworks, and then left after the fireworks broadcast.

There was some food on sale - nothing special - plastic bags of popcorn and other light snacks. Even some folding chairs were provided. The event was seemingly blanketed with RIOC staff - PSD and RIOC staff. Logistically, it did involve quite a bit of preparation: Setting up and removing generators for additional lighting, setting up and removing fencing around the field, setting up and removing security desks at the two entry points. And setting up and removing the food "concession."

I thought the turnout was sparse - or maybe it didn't seem like too many showed up because of the large size of the field. I had an absolutely clear sight-line because there was hardly anyone in front of where I was sitting. Were there even 500 at the show? Not sure..

If you randomly look up July 4th celebrations in Google, you will see that communities alot tinier than RI stage much better, more carefully thought-out, July 4th celebrations, drawing on local as well as professional talent.

For example, a tiny village in Ohio called Granville - pop. 3,600 http://www.granville.oh.us/ presented a *4-day* July 4th festival, with myriad activities, local bands, etc https://portalbuzzuserfiles.s3.amazonaws.com/ou-19899/userfiles/files/final%202014%20schedule%20as%20of%206_29(4).pdf.

The above town has a population/tax base approximately 1/5 the size of Roosevelt Island's.

True, most other communities will have the acreage to present fairs, such as county fairs, which is what Granville's July 4th celebration resembled (fairway, rides, non-stop live entertainment, games).

But RIOC, which probably has a budget that exceeds that of the village of Granville, could have made an effort to provide something - anything - other than the pathetic DJ if they were going to present a July 4th event, could have tested and tried to fix the problems with the sub-par TV reception, before the transmission of the fireworks broadcast. The audio quality was good - loud and clear - but the video wasn't. Fireworks are a visual show - so the presentation was useless from that regard. We would have all been better off watching the program on our own TVs.

RIOC could have invited a couple of food trucks - for fresh popcorn, ice-cream etc. There are food trucks at the film presentations at Southpoint Park: Why couldn't RIOC arrange for food trucks for the July 4th celebration? Even that one thing - having fresh popcorn, or any fresh food item available - would have enlivened the event.

I kind of see your point but also keep in mind that Roosevelt Island is really part of larger community called New York City, who actually throw a pretty nice event for the 4th.

I was not there, but my impressions was this was thrown together because of the larger community disappointment expressed at finding out fireworks were so far south and not visible from RI. Could money have been better spent probably but a few weeks ago Frank was critical about lack of funding for Roosevelt Island Day, but now they are to liberal with their cash.

I am not praising RIRA or RIOC but this event does not seem worth the time. To me it seems that Frank has a perpetual axe to grind because people don't like either his input or delivery style. And he seems to relish his role as the Cliff Clavin of Roosevelt Island.

Maybe RIOC decided to go overboard with the July 4th celebration spending in response to Frank's criticism of their cheapness with the RI Day event.

Yeah - I'll agree that the event - a local July 4th celebration - in NYC doesn't seem worth the time, as folks that are motivated can simply take the train and join the crowds to view fireworks in the harbor. RI gives the appearance of being a "small town" since we're in the middle of the notional "wilderness" - the roiling E. River. But really, we're not a small town, we're more an adjunct of Queens or Manhattan. Some communities in NYC probably do have their own July 4th events - like the local Veteran's Day or Memorial Day parades here and there. But, by and large when you think July 4th in NYC, you think Macy's July 4th fireworks.

Now 619 days and counting, RIOC has now done a couple hours more work: sawing a few railroad ties to replace the stanchion tops on the west footbridge (no work appears to be done on the east footbridge). With approximately 1.25 days worth of effort, RIOC broken a new threshold: an uptick to 0.2% of the days were work was done.

But wasn't the delay, as reported previous at the RIOC Ops Committee Meeting (a year ago?), explained by: FEMA had to approve some design on digging the stanchions deeper and pouring concrete so that they didn't float away again?

As the picture shows, simply the old stanchions were reused: you can see the old red paint on the northwest stanchion, on right in photo.

And I've heard that the work was delayed because RIOC was waiting for the FEMA money to arrive, which is bogus away since the FEMA work for deeper stanchions isn't getting done. Well that's bogus, too, because it was possible to do Hurricane Sandy repairs and get reimbursed afterwards, as the City did:

"... New York City responded to the storm's damage by tapping into city coffers to immediately get neighborhoods up and running again under its Rapid Recovery system, in which they restored utility services to get residents back in their homes quickly. The city is seeking to be reimbursed by the federal government now. ..."

RIOC didn't have the spare cash to replace the footbridges and get reimbursed later? So RIOC did this incompetently and they lied to us (and FEMA?) about the kinds of repairs they would make, right?

Sounds like an investigation is necessary for the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General and (yet another investigation for) the New York State Inspector General.

Frank is right about the lack of input from residents. There is no real mechanism for proactively inviting resident input. Where is the representation? Does anyone think the resident Board members actively invite resident input? When was the last time the resident Board members met informally with the community? A year ago? Two years ago?

No - there is no real representation of the residents in our local government. A very few regulars attend RIOC committee meetings and Board meetings - but at these meetings, the Board members don't have to answer any questions. I've seen them sit there stone-faced many times and refuse to answer questions.

Sadly, there is no mechanism whereby resident ideas or input can be taken into account.

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Roosevelt Island is a mixed income, racially diverse waterfront community situated in the East River of New York City between Manhattan and Queens and is jurisdictionally part of Manhattan. The Roosevelt Island Tramway, which connects Roosevelt Island to the rest of Manhattan, has become the iconic symbol of Roosevelt Island to its residents.

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